Tempest War

Chapter 13

In the morning, I woke up with Rhys lying at my side. The waves of her shoulder length hair brushed my shoulder, soft and delicate. At some point in the night, she must have shifted closer to me. I got up slowly, so as not to disturb her. I started boiling a pot of water for tea and pulled out two bags of jasmine tea. When the water boiled, I poured the water over the tea bags and let the tea steep. I had seen Rhys drinking jasmine tea the day before and packed extra bags of jasmine tea for her. Personally, I drank green tea.

I brought Rhys's cup of tea into the tent with me. She was up and getting dressed.

"Here," I offered her the cup of tea. She turned around and took the cup of tea from me.

"It's jasmine," Rhys stated. "Jasmine is one of my favourites." I smiled and took a sip from my cup. "That's very thoughtful of you." A faint blush crept across my cheeks. We packed up the tent before heading off. I ate an apple while walking and Rhys ate a peach. The silence stretched on. I wasn't sure if I should say anything or if I should just let the silence go.

After what felt like aeons of forced silence, we came upon Suvara. The vast stretches of valleys and desert were quite the sight.

"Are you okay?" Rhys asked. "You've been oddly silent." I looked at her. She had caught on. There was no reprieve from the silence.

"I've just been thinking," I answered. "Is everything just a lie? How do I know who to trust? Asami ended up being a wash. What if somebody else I'm close to betrays me?" I was on the verge of breaking down.

"That is valid," Rhys placed a hand on her shoulder. She also dropped all of the baggage. "However, there are a few things you can do to decipher a person's true nature." I looked at her with sad eyes. "It's a matter of how they act and react to things you say."

"You're not helping," I whined. "You're confusing me further."

"If they start the conversation they could be garnering information from you. Giving you thousands of things and yet asking none in return. But people that are willing to receive, are willing to be equally open; they know the true mark of friendship and love," Rhys explained. "And I know what you're going to say next. She shared things with you, but look it up, she's not an heir."

"So she was lying," I clarified.

"I'm not asking you to take my word for it," Rhys stated. "I'm telling you what I have personally experienced and saying that the truth is only known through personal experience."

"I'll look it up," I promised. "I appreciate the way you care for me." Rhys smiled warmly at me. "So, Cyrzs, Suvara. What kind of town are we looking at?"

"Cyrzs is a relatively small town built on the side of a valley," We had started walking again. "Some parts of the town even extend into the valley."

"That's really cool," I had gotten over my slight panic and was smiling warmly at Rhys. There were far and few in between each city. The vast stretches of barren land were only accentuated by the tall mountains that had clouds of thunderstorms circling their peaks like haloes. The repetitive landscape was boring, but there was something charming in the way small villages and cities sprung up.

Cyrzs, however, was a sight to behold. It was fascinating that Cyrzs wasn't the capital city. Streets made of pure gold crisscrossed in every direction. The buildings were made of different materials but they were studded with pure silver.

"What kind of money is Suvara living off of?" I was shell shocked. "I think I understand where all the wealth disparity comes from."

"Suvara has no care for their people. They spoil towns with cultural significance in riches and leave everything else to rot," Rhys was disgusted by this. "The capital, Iyris, is even wealthier and lavish than this."